Westwind Prep's pipeline problem

Building powerhouse creates bad perception

As I read Richard Obert's piece Sunday in The Arizona Republic on Phoenix Westwind Prep trying to build a powerhouse national basketball team, my instinctive reaction consisted of one word:

Really?

Do we really want a national high school team poaching athletes from local high schools?

Do parents really believe that having their sons play for a national team is a fast track to a college scholarship?

Do kids really think it's OK to ditch their high school teammates for ... for ... what exactly? Their own personal glory?

As far as I can tell, Westwind Prep isn't violating Arizona Interscholastic Association bylaws. But what the school is doing sure doesn't pass the smell test.

For those who didn't read Obert's piece, a quick review: Westwind Prep is putting together a national team that will play junior colleges and other prep basketball programs like Findlay Prep in Nevada. It won't play Arizona high schools, and it won't be eligible to compete for a state championship.

The concept isn't new. What's troubling is the manner in which Westwind Prep is going about its business, the potential for its high school team to be a feeder system for the national team and the selfish attitude of some players and parents.

Westwind Prep is welcoming -- with open arms, I might add -- players from Arizona high schools. Already, two players from Phoenix Desert Vista -- Connor MacDougall and John Marshall -- have the made the move, and guards Tate and Kye de Laveaga left Phoenix Horizon to play for their father, Jeff, Westwind Prep's coach.

They won't be the only ones. The lure of playing for a "national" team that faces top-caliber competition -- with a bevy of college scouts eyeballing their every move -- will be addicting to many of Arizona's top basketball players.

As MacDougall told Obert: "I did what was best for me."

Geez, where to begin.

I could rail against kids leaving their neighborhood school to play for the powerhouse down the road -- and parents that allow their kids to defect -- but I've shouted about that so often my vocal chords need a rest.

What's more troubling is Westwind Prep's national team potentially being used as a recruiting tool for its high school team that will be eligible to play for a state title.

Westwind Prep Superintendent Debra Slagle told Obert the national high school and post-grad teams are "kept completely separated from the varsity and JV teams."

That's irrelevant. It's the perception that counts.

The concern is that players will flock to Westwind Prep's high school team thinking it's a way into the national team. Slagle and Jeff de Laveaga can argue that's not the case -- although I'm not sure how -- but the first time a player "graduates" to the national team, the floodgates will open.

Once that occurs, Westwind Prep will have a huge leg up over other varsity programs.

"That's what bothers people in town," Rancho Solano Prep Athletic Director Matt Harris said. ... "It's almost like building a basketball factory with some sort of advantage the high school team would have."

Unfortunately, short of finding Westwind Prep guilty of openly recruiting players, there's little the AIA can do. The national team is beyond its purview. But if Westwind's high school team is benefiting because players think it's the easiest way to move onto the national team, the AIA will have to address the issue.

Westwind Prep could have avoided that quagmire by following the lead of Findlay Prep, which refuses to take Nevada players because it doesn't want to anger local high school coaches. As Findlay coach Michael Peck told Obert: "We didn't want to create enemies in our own back yard."

Unfortunately, that's exactly what Westwind Prep is doing.

But as long as they win a lot of basketball games, right?

Reach Bordow at scott.bordow@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-7996. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/sBordow